Ready to forgive?

As more than two billion people of the world observe today the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, there are different images of the journey of Jesus carrying his Cross with nails pierced through his hands and feet. Though hanging criminals on the cross and leaving them to die was the Roman custom to punish serious offenders, the image of this “offender”, though more sinned against, now occupies a place of honour in all the churches and Christian institutions around the world.

So why this paradox? Why the glorification of a man who died a criminal’s death in rather shameful conditions? To begin with, when one goes through the records of the trial of Jesus before the Roman governor Pilot, he tells the crowd that he found nothing against Jesus. That was a fact. The high priest, however, accused Jesus of blasphemy. Finally, Pilot ruled in favour of Jesus’ crucifixion, as the gospel narratives tell us, more due to pressure from the crowd than for any offence that could be legally proved.

Be that as it may, before Jesus was made to carry the same Cross on which he would be crucified, a crown of thorns was placed over his head, ridiculing and calling him, “King of the Jews”. The soldiers leading him to Mount Calvary to crucify him not only spat upon him but lashed him brutally each time he fell down under the weight of the heavy wood of the Cross.

Badly bruised and having bled profusely due to scourges, as he reached Mount Calvary, he was laid on the Cross and nails driven through his hands and feet and the Cross was lifted up from the ground. In his sufferings, he felt abandoned by everyone, even by God, his father, and cried out from the Cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani?”, meaning, “My Lord, My Lord, why have you forsaken me?”

The last prayer before breathing his last that he proclaimed from the Cross was for those who had treated him mercilessly: “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing”. Considering Jesus’ life and his teachings, the prayer of forgiveness on the Cross, even for the enemies was in line with what he lived and died for.

And apart from what the Christians believe about the purpose of crucifixion, which was to save the world from sin, his concrete act of forgiving, not merely a concept or a thought, is an ideal that is placed before all of us to emulate. The examples of Gladys Staines as well as the nun from Ranaghat, who forgave the perpetrators, are again concrete acts of forgiveness. Can it inspire us all to be forgiving too this Friday onwards? Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder- member

of Parliament of Religion, can be contacted at frdominic@ gmail. com